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K.Will

With the domination of certain K-pop solo artists (*cough g-dragon cough*), there were not that many music videos to review. Therefore I have combined my review for September and October. September brought out the girls and their powerful vocals while October brought a variety of different genres and styles.

10. Kim Ye Rim – Voice [September]

Kim Ye Rim has one of the most distinguishable voices in the Korean Music Industry, and once again brings it forth, ironically, with her single “Voice”. But this song has nothing to do with her unique, husky deep voice, but with the voice of her ex, a voice that she misses the most when she thinks of him. The music video is simple but gets the message across; Kim Ye Rim is alone, listening to music in her room when an Earthquake begins. The Earthquakes coincidentally occur every time the chorus comes up, but symbolizes her erupting feelings everything she “hears” her old boyfriend’s love. It shakes her up and reminds her of the past.

9. Kara-Damaged Lady [September]

Kara returns with “Damaged Lady” – and I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not a Kara fan. Most of their songs haven’t stuck with me. “Step it Up” wore me down, and as soon as I heard “Damaged Lady” I was instantly won over. It’s catchy, upbeat, and fast-moving, and has a song message that I’ve never seen in K-pop before. It’s about a girl whose boyfriend has just broken up with her. She sees all the couple in love around her on this bright, sunny day and feels bitter, angry and pathetic. She warns the others that she is not nice today, because she is a damaged lady. Mixing between masculine outfits and feminine ones, the music video is not as strong as the song, but still does alright.

8. G-dragon –Coup D’etat [September]

G-Dragon dominated the charts when his new mini album came out at the end of summer, “Coup D’etat”, and likewise his same named title track music video stood out among the rest. Each frame is packed full of symbolism that I can’t even begin to understand. The song and cinematography are both hauntingly beautiful, and seems to have a yin-yang scheme of black and white (likewise with the song, a switch back and forth in the tempo from fast rap parts to a slowed down chorus). This is actually one of my favorite G-dragon solo songs, and I’m always impressed with the concepts he comes up with.

7. Block B – Very Good [October]

Block B makes a banging comeback with “Very Good”, finally having settled in a new company after their lawsuit. Scoring their first win with “Very Good”, Block B has proven to fans that they are here to stay and continue to make awesome music. Their latest title track is as upbeat and crazy as their last songs. The music video features the boys being troublesome again; from pirates to now crazy bank robbers. Lyrics contain their subtly, and not so subtly remarks towards culture events, and fans can’t help but also notice Zico’s tribute to G-dragon by copying all of his iconic looks. I’m glad Block B is sticking to their true colors.

6. Troublemaker – Now [October]

Troublemaker finally makes their return after a 2 year hiatus, and they defiantly made a grand appearance with “Now”. With so many scene and outfit changes (not to mention the expensive race cars) it seems like Cube Entertainment really went all out for this music video. Despite its similarities to Rihanna’s music video, this grungy, sexy but not glamorous style was brand new for K-pop. The dance and song were not as catchy as “Troublemaker” but I still really enjoyed this comeback.

5. Zia – If you loved me [September]

Zia comes back with her sorrowful ballad “If you loved me” featuring the vocal accompaniment of Hae-ri from Davici. The song is calm but desperately calls out to her past lover, wanting him back. She tells him if he ever loved her, then he will think about their memories and consider coming back to her. The drama version of the song has an equally sad story-line about a young couple that breaks up when the boy starts to go blind, and instead of wanting his girlfriend to be with someone disabled, he breaks up with her against his heart’s wishes and hers.

4. K.Will – You Don’t Know Love [October]

K.Will did it again and came out with another wonderful easy-going track. “You Don’t Know Love” is not a romantic song at all (besides it sounding like one), but he expresses his frustration and irritation over the girl who doesn’t seem to understand his feelings at all – he is not falling out of love with her, but it’s just the ups and downs of a relationship, and she broke up with him too soon. The music video seems to express the hope of fixing the relationship as the boy and girl in the drama version are packing up the things the other gave them during their relationship, to give back now that it is over between them. But while looking at these items, they remember the memories and good times with them and are able to be together again.

3. Piggy Dolls – Butterflies [October]

Piggy Dolls have made a cute comeback with “Butterflies” – a very relatable song for most girls. They talk about the clichés butterfly feelings a girl gets when she is in love. The song message is very cliché, talking about being in love – as well as the music video (all the girls are camping, having fun and singing while roasting marshmallows), but nonetheless the song is very addicting and just pure-hearted fun. A late summer song, but a cute single anyways.

2. Jung Joon Young – Spotless Mind [October]

“Spotless Mind” was the first time I ever heard Jung Joon-young’s voice, and wow, I was instantly taken back. First of all, it doesn’t even seem like such a powerful dark voice could come out of such a skinny guy. But his voice is captivating and the song seems to lull you in like a powerful melody. The lyrics also standout- he has created a spotless mind and erased the memories of his loved one. I’m glad this rocker is able to make such a strong stance among the idol singers.

1. Spica – Tonight [September]

Spica returned with “Tonight”, another underrated single with their signature power vocals. Spica has always had uniquely beautiful music videos, skimming the fine line between artistic and visually appealing to make a fine mixture of both. “Tonight” has the girls in bohemian style, outside with nature as their background and only laughter as the girls are enjoying life together as their song suggests one to do. The added pastel filter, dust paint splashes and slow motion moments added to the sensual and fun theme. “Tonight” is not only one of my favorite songs of the summer this year, but also one of my favorite songs from a female K-pop group.

This year, April releases have brought out a combination of cute and crazy comeback. It seems to be either cute, bubblegum-pop love songs about Spring, or funky tracks with crazy music videos. It’s either one or the other for this month!

Note: This chart is just my personal favorites and does not reflect any music video views or digital/album sales.

10. M.I.B – Nod Along

M.I.B made their comeback with their new single “Nod Along” that expresses their desire for their girl to ‘nod along’ and say yes to getting back together. The music video is quite ordinary but the song is beautiful, and it makes me feel sad that this four member group is so underrated. This is the group’s third comeback with “Nod Along” being the promotional song for their album “Money in the Building”. Previous hits have been “Only Hard For Me” and “G.D.M”, along with all the members debut singles.

9. K.Will – Love Blossom

K.Will came back with a new fresh single “Love Blossom” that actually has the solo singer appear in his own music video (granted it was for only around ten seconds but still, making progress). “Love Blossom” is a typical spring love song but with a not so typical love music video. The two leading roles are played by Infinite’s L and Sistar’s Daesom; L’s character has the lowest position in his workplace, and when his bosses decide to visit an amusement park (what are they doing at an amusement park in the first place?) he is treated badly and taken advantage of for being the rookie. In retaliation, when they all go on a spinning ride he gets a gun, kills the person working the ride and traps his tormenting bosses on the never ending spinning ride. Then later he meets Daesom’s character and they have endless ice cream and explore the grounds like a couple in love. I enjoyed the song, but can’t really understand how they thought the music video plot would match.

8. Ga In and HyungWoo – Brunch

Gain In and Hyungwoo (contestant in MBC Star Audition “Great Birth” Season 1) collaborated, making this Ga In’s first duet album, “Romantic Spring”. Their title track is called “Brunch” and is a very cute song (like “nauseating couple in love” cute), that has a couple expressing their love for each other as they eat brunch together. The music video follows this theme with the two singers meeting for brunch and then they spend the rest of the day as a romantic date; visiting the beach, the amusement park, and feeding each other street food. This is a sweet song that shows the softer side to the fierce Ga In.

7. U-kiss – Should have treated you better

U-Kiss has unleashed a new sub-unit onto the K-pop world called “U-Beat”, made up of rappers Eli and AJ (and for these promotions also includes Vocalist Kevin). U-Beat has made their debut very soft and sorrowful with their title track “Should Have Treated You Better”; a song expressing regrets of not showing enough to the person they loved. I would have expected something stronger since this is a sub-unit with the rappers of the group, but U-Beat has assured fans through interviews that they will come back with a new song in the future that will show their other sides. I’ll be waiting for you AJ and Eli!

6. G-Dragon – Michigo

Just when I think G-Dragon can’t get crazier he comes out with a new music video that always proves me wrong. “Michigo” follows the G-Dragon style strictly with absurd props such as a pink elephant, big feet, evil minions with masks, crazy hairstyles and outfits only Big Bang’s leader could pull off. Let’s put it this way; it’s what you would expect, just double the crazy.

5. Shinee – Why so serious?

Oh where do I begin? A lot of fans are quite upset that since Jonghyun was injured from his car accident, why SME decided to go ahead with this follow-up track when their lead vocalist would be absent from almost all promotions. Even though I too miss our “Bling Bling Dino”, I thought Shinee did a good job of pulling it together. However, it didn’t really feel like a Shinee comeback, more like a “Taemin + others”. I’m not hating on the maknae, just observing that he got some more screen time and lines in comparison to the members. I like the song itself though. “Why So Serious?” is exactly how it sounds; it’s a very funny, and upbeat song with very relaxed choreography compared to some of Shinee’s intense choreography. Not the best Shinee song, but still a fun song.

4. Jay Park – Joah

Sexy solo artist Jay Park came back with several songs lately with my favorite being “Joah” a…cute song? Yes, that’s right; when Jay Park actually has his shirt on, he is a very cute boy with a charming smile. Jay Park has not disappointed me yet, especially not with this song that is so simple but happy-going. It’s bound to leave anyone who hears this song in a good mood. Paying respects to his hometown, this music video is filmed in Seattle as Jay Park takes you through the streets he grew up in.

3. 4minute – What’s your name?

Squeezing out its release in the last days of April, 4Minute came back with their latest single “What’s Your Name?” Spunky and sexy at the same time, 4minute went back to their roots and gave their fans another colorful and sexy music video to match this infectious song. This music video however became very strange, very quickly. Apparently if 4minute rejects anybody they turn into Zombies and attack. Not my favorite 4minute song, but it didn’t disappoint.

2. Psy – Gentleman

Psy made his first comeback after the amazing global success of “Gangnam Style” (which I’m pretty sure everyone has seen by this point), with his new title track “Gentleman”. Psy’s new music video had the same amount of craziness as the last one; with Psy acting like a jerk towards everyone but in the end gets bested by the leading lady (Ga In). Nothing can beat Gangnam Style but Gentleman was a strong follow-up that defiantly made me go back to the “Abracadabra” phase.

1. BtoB – Second Confession

This is a new cute comeback from Cube’s latest boy group, BtoB (Born to Beat). The BtoB boys themselves picked out this concept – it’s about a broken relationship with the guy asking the girl for a second chance to start over. The music video shows the boys in different parts of Seoul, with the “confession letter” magically passing by all the boys. Even cuter is the dance version, or more known as the “Pajama” version, where all seven boys dance away in cute pajamas. It only took one time but I fell completely in love with the song.